


Alarming

by tryslora



Series: Time Enough [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Community: fullmoon_ficlet, F/F, Fate, First Meetings, Soulmate-Identifying Timers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-04
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-02-19 20:17:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2401589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tryslora/pseuds/tryslora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All she can think about is the timer on her wrist, flashing zeroes, turning her first day of college into something <i>more</i>. It’s <i>distracting</i>, and Cora Hale does <i>not</i> like distractions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alarming

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written for prompt #87 - Fate at fullmoon_ficlet. I know it's not the story y'all were hoping for next in this series, but I wanted to write something cute and quick for the prompt and this suited and keeps me going in the 'verse. :) As always, I do not own the world nor characters of Teen Wolf, I just like to play with them.

Cora’s not a typical freshman. She’s lived near campus since she was eleven (almost twelve), when her brother and sister started their freshman year. She started out living two blocks outside the gates, watching her brother leave for 8AM classes before she headed in the opposite direction for her middle school day. Even when she and her uncle moved further out, leaving the apartment to Derek and Laura, even when their small _family_ grew throughout the years, Cora always considered herself more one of _them_ than one of the children that surrounded her, strangely young and unaffected by life.

Maybe she grew up too fast, but that’s the way life was. They didn’t exactly have a choice.

Moving into a dorm on campus seems strange, but it’s just an extension of the life she has almost always known. A roommate is an inconvenience (she _likes_ Malia, but she hates having someone in her _space_ who isn’t family yet). The pathways are different from dorm to class, but she navigates easily, finding her way around campus far more easily than others of her own age.

None of this explains the nerves that coil in the pit of her gut when she makes her way to her very first class of her freshman year. It’s not quite eight; she has a pastry in one hand that she grabbed on her way through the dining hall, and a bag over her shoulder. She is _finally_ a student, and she wishes she could enjoy it more.

All she can think about is the timer on her wrist, flashing zeroes, turning her first day of college into something _more_. It’s _distracting_ , and Cora Hale does _not_ like distractions.

She pushes past the other freshman crowding outside the largest lecture hall on campus. Freshman biology seminar is the first class that every student needs to pass if they want to major in any biology focused degree. It will be a  huge, anonymous class, and she needs to excel from this moment forward so that she will be on track for medical school. On track for the rest of her _life_.

Cora nudges someone out of her way and walks down the stairs, heading for the front of the room. There are fewer students there, most hanging back as if that will somehow make them _more_ anonymous. She sniffs irritatedly; it’s not as if the professor is going to be calling on students randomly. This isn’t _high school_. This is college. This is _life_.

She drops her bag in one seat, dropping herself into the next while dragging her tablet out and digging for a stylus. She dimly registers someone sitting two seats over on her right, not caring who it is until she feels a tap on her shoulder. She looks up.

Crooked chin and a grin that seems more like a puppy than a boy. His eyes are warm as he holds out a pen. “Looking for something?”

She glances at her tablet on that stupid little arm-desk that these seats have, then looks at the pen and raises her eyebrows as if that is answer enough. When he still sits there, waiting for an answer, she sighs. “I have a tablet. I need my stylus.”

“Move, Scott.” The words are clean and crisp, barely warning before someone stands over the space between them, waiting for the empty seat. Cora looks up, and the world ends right there.

The ringing starts softly, but it’s deafening to her ears, chiming in a pattern that she heard last night at midnight when her timer clicked from _one more day_ to _sometime in the next 24 hours_. The lecture hall goes silent, then applause breaks out around them, cheers rising while Cora tries desperately to take this in, to figure out who this is that she is meeting for the first time and will have a forever with.

Strawberry blond hair and gorgeous pumps. A skirt that covers a sweetly delectable bottom, and eyes that pierce through Cora as one eyebrow cocks. “I’m not awake enough for this,” the other girl says. “Class first. Fate later.”

Cora appreciates the eyebrow. Her lips twist into an amused smile. “Agreed,” she says. “I’ve heard fate goes well with coffee.”

“I have class straight through.” The girl gives a delicate shrug. “I’m done at four. We’ll meet for dinner at Sage. You can return this to me then.” She offers a stylus, and Cora lets her bag drop back onto the chair, no longer needing her own.

Fingers are warm as they meet; Cora feels a shiver through her bones. The girl flashes a small smile.

“I’m Lydia. This big goober is Scott, and you ought to remember that because you’ll be seeing a lot of him.”

“Cora,” she manages to say, looking past Lydia to Scott and frowning. “Boyfriend?”

Lydia laughs. “Definitely not. But he is one of my best friends, and if you think he’s entertaining wait until you meet Stiles.”

Lydia. Scott. Stiles. Cora files the names away, thinking that she’ll need them later, and she doesn’t dare forget. She brings up an app to take notes as the professor begins to speak, and she half listens and half watches Lydia out of the corner of her eye. Serious, lip bitten in concentration as she takes copious notes.

Exactly the kind of girl Cora could love.

They bump arms, Cora’s right hand nudging into Lydia’s left when they take notes. “Tomorrow,” she whispers, “we’re switching sides.”

Lydia’s lips press, smile hidden. “You’re assuming.” She bends her head back to her notes, and Cora doesn’t say anything more.

She can’t afford to be distracted, and when Lydia packs up to leave quickly with Scott, muttering something about finding the Howard building for Calculus, Cora takes her time and lingers behind, watching her go.

Fate can wait until 4PM; they have a lifetime after that. And Cora has faith enough to believe it’s going to work out just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me [on tumblr](http://tryslora.tumblr.com)!


End file.
